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Every day when you wake up, there is an adventure to be had. Some are fun, some are scary, some are flat-out stupid. No matter how you slice it, life is meant to be lived. -Neal Russell (Tim Matheson)

That was one of the better things that came out of Quantum Leap Season 2, episode 4 The Lonely Hearts Club.

Yes, it’s as schmaltzy as it sounds and I almost didn’t watch it. In fact, I really had a tough time working up the motivation to watch the episode. What finally pulled me though was the main guest star being Tim Matheson.

I was ten years old during the original run of Jonny Quest. Tim voiced the title character (I own the series on DVD). Also, who isn’t thrilled watching the 1978 film National Lampoon’s Animal House, in which Tim plays “Otter?”

So yes, just to see Tim, I watched it.

Usually, I go into way too much detail so I’ll try to curb that.

Oh, in case you haven’t watched it yet…spoilers.

Ben (Raymond Lee) leaps into an agent’s assistant named Summer Walsh. She is assigned to get famous actor Neal Russell (Matheson) to the Tonight Show then hosted by Jay Leno on April 4, 2000. Turns out both Ben and Addison (Caitlin Bassett) are huge Neal Russell fans and are gushing all over the place.

It’s morning and Neal is nothing but nice to everyone around him. Really, he’s a great guy. They’re on a studio lot, supposedly NBC, and Ben brings Neal’s mail to him at breakfast. Addison says that Ben’s mission is to make sure Neal gets to Leno. In the original history, he never makes it to the show and goes sailing instead. He drowns in what is presumed to be a suicide.

We see two pieces of mail that are important. One is a wedding invitation for that day sent to Neal by his ex-wife Laura (Erica Gimpel). The other is a series of unopened letters he sent to a publicist named Caroline Lambert (the actress wasn’t credited).

Ben and Addison find Neal at his ex’s house arguing with her as he begs to be taken back. Laura’s intended, a former co-star named Michael (Vince Duvall) comes at Neal with a sword, which Ben stops, basically because Summer is innocent and likeable.

So Neal goes on a quest to win back his true love and Ben supports this. Addison thinks this is a big mistake since it takes him further away from appearing on Leno.

Throughout the episode, whatever relationship issues Neal has is reflected in someway onto Ben and Addison’s relationship. At one point, they are reliving some of their fonder memories but that ends up being awkward. How can this not end in anything but disaster?

The subplot is that Tom (Peter Gadiot) finds a series of energy spikes in the project’s power usage. Ian (Mason Alexander Park) explains that every time Ben leaps, they have to find his quantum signature again which is costly. Tom points out that the spikes are much higher than they were three years ago.

Ian calls their love (who we saw last season) Rachel (played by Alice Kremelberg who is Park’s real life partner). We find out through their lunch date plus Ian’s hushed conversation with Jenn (Nanrisa Lee) that in order to find Ben again, Ian commissioned a chip from Rachel’s employer.

Ian figures out the chip is sending data outside the project to Rachel’s boss. At lunch, Rachel points out that her boss will only find out about the AI and not time travel, unless they found Ben. Well, that yet another secret Ian was trying to keep from her and now she’s pissed again. Mason plays Ian as so pathetic in this scene, it’s hard to feel sorry for them in any sense. Ian’s relationships seem just as screwed up as Ben’s and Addison’s, worse really.

At the project, Ian is hoping to figure out a third option for the problem besides either letting the chip continue to bleed info or pulling the chip and losing Ben forever.

Now that they found Ben, can’t Ian use the original locator algorithm to keep locating him after each leap? Trying to keep up with fake physics is so difficult.

Neal is supposed to go on Leno to promote his new memoir which will revitalize his career. Magic buys several copies so the team can read through it looking for clues about Neal that might help Ben resolve the leap.

They find one. In the 1970s, Neal had a relationship with a woman who, after they broke up, never acted again. She married and had a daughter, but matching up the dates, the daughter, Caroline Lambert, is Neal’s daughter. All of the unopened, returned envelopes were Neal’s attempt to make amends with her. She was the one element in his life that Neal didn’t put in his book.

Ben still wants to focus on getting Neal back with his ex while Addison argues that the real mission is to reconcile Neal with Caroline and then get him on Leno.

The big argument happens, which Tom and the crew happen to watch. Ben accuses Addison of giving up on him and that he would have never stopped looking for her. She flips the argument saying that he left her behind. He reminds her that he did it to save her life. Personally, I think Ben should win this one. If he didn’t leap, Addison would have died and there would be no “Ben leaving her behind.” She’d be dead.

What adds fuel to Ben’s fire is that he finds out Tom not only knows about the project but is now leading it and is watching the leap. Talk about your ex’s boyfriend looking over your shoulder every time you talk to her.

Lee and Bassett turned in really good performances here (I hate to admit it). You could see the hurt and anguish between them.

At one point, Addison says when she found out the project was going to be shut down, she got into the accelerator hoping to leap to him. I guess they shut off the power or something, but that certainly would have been interesting. I wonder what happened?

At the project, Tom has two major scenes. The first is early in the episode when he gives a pep talk to the team about convincing Washington how noble, important, and inspiring the project is. He really lays it on thick and I already don’t trust this guy. As we find out, the QL team (all the “little people” working in the background who are normally never filmed) don’t trust him either. Addison is too blind to see this.

The second is in a conversation with Magic (he’s very comfortable taking over Magic’s office). He says that people have assumed that the technology is broken because it first lost Sam and now Ben. He suggests that the “agency” of the project is sacrifice. He tells Magic that maybe time travel was always supposed to be a one-way trip.

Magic says that people would probably leap anyway, just for the chance to do good. Tom says that’s the message they need to send to Washington.

Or maybe Tom’s looking for an excuse not to bring Ben home. After all, if he comes home, things get messy. Tom does mention how powerless he was when his wife died and how he thought he wouldn’t have the same issues in a time travel project.

It could be possible that Tom developed a relationship with Addison with the express purpose of using QL to prevent his wife’s death. That’s a stretch but why mention it otherwise, even in passing? Remember, you saw it here first.

Also what about “evil leaper” Richard Martinez (Walter Perez) from season one? While we don’t know if he could leap back to the project after certain missions, it’s certainly a possibility. Plus, future Ian targeted a leap back to give Ben his mission to save Addison in the first place. Ian then leapt back to the project! So it doesn’t have to be a one-way trip.

Ian isn’t part of this conversation, but if Magic ever tells them, shouldn’t Ian know or shouldn’t they all know from Ben that future Ian had a leap back and then a leap home?

Neal, bringing flowers and in his best tux, sneaks back in to see Laura. Instead of exploding, she lets him down easy. She’s not the same woman and he’s not the same man they were when they were married. She’s not his dream anymore. He has to find a new one. He accepts this and is deflated. This scene has some importance later on.

Ben takes the hint and drives Neal to his daughter’s house. He’s terrified of being rejected by her but, referencing yet another leap, Ben suggests that face-to-face might make the difference.

Magically, it does. Addison says that she drives him to Leno, he promotes his book, makes seven more movies, and becomes a grandfather.

Addison mistakenly says “We have seven more Neal Russell movies to watch.”

Ben decides it’s time for him to stop chasing his happy ending. He gives up on any future relationship with Addison and tells her she can’t be his hologram anymore. As he’s walking away, he leaps. Addison starts crying.

Good grief, what did she expect? When he was coming on to her, she resented it. When he was angry at being rejected and replaced, she resented it. Now he accepts reality and she’s sorry. That said, human emotions aren’t logical. Maybe this is the day Ben dies to her.

The only “progressive” moment I could find (besides Ben leaping again into a woman and not having any issues with the change in anatomy whatsoever when the rest of us would be freaking out) is Ben mentioning to Neal about his ex, calling her (Addison) “she.” Since Ben is a woman named Summer, that suggests Summer is a lesbian. Neal doesn’t blink an eye, but then again, it is 2000.

Or the dialog was unintentional and got past the editors, so it really wasn’t a progressive moment.

Other reviews.

Fangirlish says:

The problem with introducing a love triangle (or this kind of conflict) to an OTP is that it really can undermine the central message that these two idiots lovebirds are meant to be together. That their relationship will one day (if not today) be able to withstand any challenge that comes its way. Which is huge when it comes to shipping an OTP. It’s really hard as a shipper to believe that your ship will stand stronger than space, time, and cosmic purposes when it can’t even withstand the presence of Gary from the local coffee shop.

Moving on to Tell-Tale TV:

Peter Gadiot’s Tom seems too nice and bland — like Wonder Bread — making this reviewer think there’s more to him than meets the eye. This would be a predictable route for the writers, as this isn’t the first time a character looks harmless on the surface but is a legitimate threat to the team.

Perhaps making Tom a villain or something of the like will bring Ben and Addison back together. Plus, it would give Gadiot, a talented performer, more to do besides being too understanding of a partner. Even an understanding partner is human and can feel conflicted.

To be fair, Fangirlish also expressed severe concerns about Tom, but I can only quote so much.

Price of Reason didn’t drop a review, preferring to do a live watch and review of the original Quantum Leap pilot Genesis (which I’ll definitely have to watch).

It was certainly a pleasure to see Tim Matheson again, but the current incarnation of QL is definitely “shipper” with a small side of science fiction. Relationships, relationships. Neal and Laura, Neal and Caroline, Ben and Addison, Addison and Tom, Ian and Rachel, and dare I say it, Tom and dead wife he wants to make back alive.

Next week, Susan Diol is returning to the show as Beth Calavicci, Al’s widow. I predict she’s Magic’s new partner, so another relationship added to the mix.

All that may change in the aforementioned S2E5 One Night in Koreatown which recounts the 1992 Los Angeles, Rodney King riots (I lived in Orange County, CA at the time so I’ll offer my personal insights). I’m predicting right now that the showrunners will dial up progressivism to “eleven” with “all white people are evil (and especially all cops).”

Magic will be Ben’s hologram for this leap and I imagine his perceptions will be an important part of the story.

Speaking of which, here’s the promo:

Addendum:

Okay, I watched the recording of the livestream Price of Reason made with several other YouTube personalities reviewing the first half of the original Quantum Leap pilot “Genesis.” It seemed a little disjointed but a significant portion of the time was used introducing everyone and their connections to the Scott Bakula show. There were a few times when the original was compared to the newer series. If you’re interested, here it is.